Manage Chrome devices

As an administrator, you can manage your organization’s Chrome devices from a single place with Chrome device management. Configure Chrome features for users, set up Chrome device access to VPNs and Wi-Fi networks, force install Chrome apps and extensions, and more.

You can apply each setting to specific groups of users or to everyone in the organization. Most settings provide the option of enforcing a particular configuration or letting the user choose. For example, administrators can specify a standard home page for everyone or allow people to set their own homepages.

Get licenses, enroll, and set up devices

You need a license for every Chrome device that you manage for your organization. The following licenses are available:

This is a multi-purpose license that gives you access to all the settings and policies that can be configured for your organization's Chrome devices. You can purchase a license that lasts for the lifetime of the device or an annual license that you renew each year.

This license gives you access to the settings you need to configure Chrome devices running as kiosks, such as a guest registration desk, a digital sign, or a point-of-sale system in a store. However, the single app kiosk license can’t be used for public-session kiosks.

Note: By default, an organizational unit inherits the settings of its parent in the organizational tree. However, you can override the inherited setting by explicitly changing the setting for the child organizational unit. The new setting applies to users in that organizational unit, and any children of that organizational unit.

At the bottom, click Save. Settings typically take effect within minutes, but it might take up to an hour to propagate through your organization.

You can configure the following Chrome settings in your Admin console:

User settings are not available for devices with a single-app kiosk license.

These settings apply to a managed user's Chrome session on any platform, including Chrome devices. They don’t apply to users signed in as guests or signed in with Google Accounts outside of your company or organization. For most settings, you have the option to enforce a particular setting or leave the choice to the user. For example, you can specify a standard homepage for all users or you can allow users to set their own homepages.

Public session settings are not available for devices with a single-app kiosk license.

Public sessions allow multiple users to share the same Chrome device without needing to sign in with their account. Popular uses for public sessions include loaner devices in a library, cyber cafe, or business center. They’re also used for student exams and point-of-sale kiosks in a store. For more information, see Manage public sessions devices.

Configure policies and settings for individual Chrome apps (compared to User settings where you can manage multiple Chrome apps within an organizational unit at once). All of the app polices that you can set in User settings (such as block, allow, force install, and recommend apps in the Chrome Web Store to your users) are available in App management.

Additionally, App management lets you view a consolidated list of your configured apps from all of the organizational units in your domain. You can also configure settings for customizing apps and deploying an app as a kiosk app.

View your device shipment details on this page. You only see this option if you purchased devices directly from Google.

Devices will only show up on the Shipments page if your order was fulfilled from Google inventory. Devices ordered from vendors, resellers, or third-party sites will not appear on this page. As of late 2013, Google stopped fulfilling orders from its warehouse, so administrators will not see any information related to recent hardware orders made through authorized resellers on this page. Please contact your reseller for shipment details.

It can take up to 24 hours for changes to propagate through Google's systems, although you will most likely see them sooner.

In the Admin console, click Device management > Chrome devices to see information about the Chrome devices in your domain. You can also create organizational units to group devices that share the same configuration.

Configure most of your Chrome devices to use the Stable release channel, but also have a few devices on the Beta and Development release channels. This helps your organization test upcoming Chrome features and detect incompatibilities between Chrome and your environment. To find out more about release channels, see Manage device settings.